About

Twisting Catacombs . The Minotaur Horde

£64,049

pledged of £6,000 goal

891

backers

Our continued goal is to create the next-level of miniatures for your games and painting. More detailed, more dynamic, more characterful and better than before. We are pushing things forward. Because, as every painter or gamer knows - these are not toys; this is miniature art!

It has been a while since nearly 1,000 kind gamers worldwide helped us bring to life TC: Fantasy Dungeon Terrain, back on KS, in 2014. Now we have returned, we are ready to raise the bar once again with a new range of models. With these, we have the scope to really show off how proper resin models should look. Welcome, adventurer, to the Minotaur Horde!

A lot of companies focus on budget value, and that's good, if good value is what you want. More models for your money, buckets of models cast in PVC plastic, spin-cast 'restic' models. Cheaper production, corners cut. You get more mediocre models than you could ever paint or really appreciate. Familiar, right? I know ;) Now these Minos are a little bit different, these are the kind of high detail miniatures which will get a "Wow" from your gamer friends when you reveal them. Miniatures which you will want to paint and will want to keep in your collection forever.

We are making miniatures with the best blend of new and old. New, cutting-edge 3D Printing for the sharpest details around. Old, tried and tested vacuum casting, the same method perfected over the last 30 years, for the best quality cast models. Our last KS received high praise on the model's quality and phenomenal detail. But this time we really have the scope to spare no expense and truly show off what we can do on these fearsome Minotaurs.

Minotaurs are the perfect race to begin on our quest to modernize, since only a few of them are needed to make a warband. We can lavish attention on a dozen or so models and produce a concise campaign with a quick delivery.

On one side, there is the production; over the years, Zealot has built a reputation for making stunningly detailed models. We have worked with many big-name miniature companies, producing their models, all behind the scenes. If you have supported many miniature kickstarters before, you likely have some of our casts already! But the awesome level of detail possible is all moot, without some stunningly detailed artwork for us to produce! ...

So we have teamed up with Alexei Popovici, who is an industry sculpting veteran and one of the most talented model sculptors working today. He not only produces great sculpts which looks superb as a render on your huge PC screen - but it transfers well into an actual model, where all the details are clear and possible to paint.

Superb renders indeed!

Choose your miniatures from these core selections. If you wish to pick them as further Add-Ons, the cost is displayed on each image. The 3D viewer links are below each picture. ( bear in mind the 3d viewer models are heavily reduced detail for faster viewing ;) )

(For the Adventurers, there are more views of castings coming soon)

The core pledges are quite simple and clear. Each base pledge on the right includes a range of the core models, Minotaurs, Female Adventures, Minotaur General. If you want to add extras, simply scroll up and select from the core models, then add their value to your pledge. Or scroll down to see the unlocked stretch goals, then add their value to your pledge.

If you add many extras to a core pledge, shipping costs will generally follow the following international shipping table. Which includes tracked and insured postage. But for the most accurate shipping estimate, please download the Excel pledge calculator above (V1.0) (Top right, 3 dots, select download)

As funding grows, more additional sculpts and upgrades will become unlocked. We have a small range of themed scenery, some variant minotaurs, upgrades and parts to customise the existing minotaurs and some miscellaneous themed pieces too. If you would like to add a stretch goal, simply add it's value to your core pledge.

We have been making miniatures for 7 years. We mainly produce for other companies as a manufacturer, and we have build quite a reputation for quality.

Now and then, we step out of our casting dungeon and create one of our own projects, for a sliver of the limelight! And here it is ;)

We will show more behind the scenes processes during the updates, but in a nutshell, the stages are:

The timeline for production will be one of a rolling dispatch by Backer ID (first come, first shipped) to match the rolling method of production. First early pledge backers, then moving onto regular backers.

The estimated pledge delivery (Feb-April) is the last date we predict to ship the rewards. We estimate the first pledges to be shipping before Christmas as all of the core minotaurs will begin production as soon as we hit the funding goal .Our timelines are based on 250- 400 backers ordering an average of 5 minotaurs. If things look to be progressing larger than this, we can double production speed by using our partner cast company also. We have the margin per unit to allow for this to be an option.

If estimated dispatch times are due to change due to demand, we will let all backers know via an update still during the campaign.

We aim to be compact, concise and with a fast dispatch.

Here is a scale image for the Berserk and the females:

Craftworld Studios have kindly joined us to paint a showcase range of these beastly minotaurs. You will see more images from their painting bench in the updates, no doubt. Here are some of their current WIPS

If you would like to see more, do check out their Facebook feed at this link.

Need a lair for your Herd? Heroic Maps have joined in to create a special Minotaur themed game board! Through Twisting Catacombs, you can get a 50% Discount on downloading this map by clicking on any of the images below.

Risks and challenges

We will produce a new range of quality resin Minotaurs. The risks to this project are very minimal. We do this kind of production, every day for 7 years, producing miniatures for many high profile companies.

We are not new to Kickstarter; our last Kickstarter was a colossal project ~200k resin cast pieces, hitting 2,235% of our funding goal! (Jump in at the deep end!)
We delivered it and it was highly praised that "the quality was beyond amazing" and the detail was "phenomenal". Certainly achieving what we set out; to bring a new level of cutting edge dungeon scenery to gamers.
This current project has under 20 models, where the last had over 130 models. Meaning reduced complexity and scope, so for this project we can focus on a faster dispatch in a matter of months. Far reducing the risk of delays.

For this project, the digital sculpting will be completed by industry veteran Alexei Popovici. Most of the sculpts will be completed before the KS finishes funding.
The cutting edge 3d prototypes and resin vacuum castings, all happen in-house, as it has, during all our years of trading.

Risk#1: Resin speed of manufacture.
Resin is a labour intensive material to cast with. Casting 30 units or casting 3000 units, it's the same amount of time and work to produce each unit.
We have estimated dispatch times based on 250-400 backers ordering an average of 5 Minotaurs each. Any increase on this will mean longer dispatch times for later pledges as we stagger dispatch in backer ID order.
In the event of an extremely successful funding period, we can outsource any stage of production to our trusted long term business contacts which will double production speed. Backers will be kept up to date via updates on any changes to the estimated dispatch date, before the campaign finishes.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £80 or more
About US$ 101

+ WARBAND +

The Minotaur General Miniatures and each of the 4 CORE Minotaurs. Vacuum Cast in Resin.
Add-Ons can be chosen with this pledge.
(The Campaign Shipping costs table replaces the default on here, if picking Add-Ons. )

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £94 or more
About US$ 118

+ SKIRMISH +

The Minotaur General Miniature and each of the 4 CORE Minotaurs. Vacuum Cast in Resin.
Add-Ons can be chosen with this pledge.
(The Campaign Shipping costs table replaces the default on here, if picking Add-Ons. )

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £80 or more
About US$ 101

+ EARLY WARBAND +

The Minotaur General Miniatures and each of the 4 CORE Minotaurs. Vacuum Cast in Resin.
Add-Ons can be chosen with this pledge.
(The Campaign Shipping costs table replaces the default on here, if picking Add-Ons. )

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £94 or more
About US$ 118

+ EARLY SKIRMISH +

The Minotaur General Miniature and each of the 4 CORE Minotaurs. Vacuum Cast in Resin.
Add-Ons can be chosen with this pledge.
(The Campaign Shipping costs table replaces the default on here, if picking Add-Ons. )